Cherubs
by HeyAssButtImBatman
Summary: A witch's spell leaves Sam and Dean with two toddler-sized angels to care for. The hunters soon learn that babysitting ain't all it's cracked up to be.
1. Chapter 1

Gabriel and Castiel were waiting in the car. They had wanted to help, but Sam and Dean had insisted that a witch was no big deal, so they had left the two angels to be bored until their hunters returned. Gabriel had been feeling off ever since they had pulled up into the witch's driveway, but he hadn't been able to place the feeling.

"Shouldn't they have been back by now?" Castiel asked, breaking Gabriel out of his thoughts. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it had been about twenty minutes since the Winchesters had gone inside.

"Yeah, something's definitely wrong. This is the longest they've ever gone without getting thrown through a wall, or something." The angels flew to the house, landing in the living room. Sam and Dean were being held against the wall by the witch, who was mixing ingredients for a spell, it looked like. Silently approaching her from behind, Gabriel couldn't help but notice that they odd feeling growing increasingly irritating, yet he still couldn't place it.

"I can sense you, you know," the witch said suddenly, turning around and throwing her power at the angels. Castiel was visibly pushing against the force, while Gabriel continued towards her, unaffected. Throwing his arm out, he threw her against the wall and held her there, breaking her hold on Sam and Dean. The hunters dropped to the floor and gasped for breath, while Castiel walked up to the witch. Suddenly, Gabriel knew what was bothering him.

Knowing that his warning would come too late, he used his power and grabbed Castiel, stopping him in his tracks. His brother stared at him with disbelief in his eyes.

"Don't you feel her power, Castiel?" Gabriel never used his brother's full name unless it was something important. Castiel stopped resisting and Gabriel looked at the witch, who was watching them with an amused expression on her face. Castiel's eyes narrowed and he gazed at the witch thoughtfully.

"You are right, I can sense it now," he said. Sam and Dean had finally gotten up and came to stand next to their angels.

"So what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"No clue," Gabriel replied. "I can't hold her here forever, but I don't know how to kill a witch this powerful." Dean moved to the bowl she had been working with and looked over the ingredients.

"I don't recognise half of this stuff," he announced. "Whatever she was working must have been some serious hoodoo."

"Correct," the witch said, causing them all to jump. "And in fact, my spell must nearly be done fermenting. Should I say the incantation?" She was teasing them. Gabriel took away her voice, but she just smiled even wider. Gabriel and Castiel could hear her thinking the incantation, and their eyes widened when they recognised the spell. They threw their hands towards their hunters, effectively protecting them and leaving themselves vulnerable to the blast of white light that came not a second later. Gabriel and Castiel were thrown across the room, then everything went black.

()()()

Sam and Dean watched as Gabriel and Castiel flew across the room. As soon as they hit the floor, the hunters were able to move again. They hardly noticed that the witch was gone as they ran to their angels. They weren't expecting what they found, though. In a small heap were two bodies. One had black hair, blue eyes, and a trenchcoat. The other had gold hair, honey colored eyes, and a green jacket. They owners of said features couldn't have been more than six years old.

"No friggin' way," Dean said. "That bitch turned our angels into kids!" At the sound of Dean's voice the two angels stirred. Cas' eyes opened immediately and he looked around in confusion. They saw none of the usual stoicness that was usually present on his face. Instead, he looked ready to burst with curiosity. Gabriel's eyes were panicked when they opened. He looked immediately at Sam.

"The spell is resetting my brain," he said, his voice that of a child and full of barely suppressed pain. "I can't fight it. It will wear off, but I don't know how long it will take." He screwed his eyes shut and the two hunters waited for him to do something, anything. When he opened his eyes again, however, they held none of the usual humor that they expected from him. "Where are we?" he asked. He looked around and apparently recognized Castiel because he ran over and enveloped his brother in a tight hug.

"This is Castiel," he told the hunters. "He's three. I'm Gabriel, I'm five. You're Sam and Dean, right?" He looked at the two brothers expectantly.

"Uh, yeah," Sam said, giving Dean a meaningful look. "Yeah, I'm Sam and this is Dean. We're your babysitters." Dean looked horrified. Gabriel grabbed Castiel's hand and dragged him over to the hunters.

"Can we go now? This place is boring." He looked up at Sam with big eyes.

"Yeah, let's go," Sam said. He grabbed Gabriel's hand and led the five year old to the Impala. Castiel had attached himself to Dean and wasn't letting go anytime soon. The hunters had no idea what to do with the two toddlers once they got to the car. hey were too small for seatbelts, and they didn't have any car seats. In the end, the two just sat on Sam's lap in the backseat. The trip back to the motel was quiet. The angels had fallen asleep and didn't wake up when Sam carried them to him and Gabriel's room and put them onto a bed.

"What do we do?" he asked Dean.

"I have no clue," his brother answered. "I don't know how to take care of baby angels, or even if they are angels anymore. I mean, they fell asleep, right? Angels don't sleep."

"True. So it's probably safe to assume that they'll be hungry when they wake up."

Dean groaned and sank onto the couch. He turned to a rerun of Dr. Sexy, MD while Sam looked up anything that might help them take care of their new kids until the spell wore off. After going through quite a few websites and online books, Sam had learned quite a lot about little kids. They were still asleep, and Sam figured that they would sleep through the night. Dean had already passed out on the couch, so Sam took the other bed.

On the other side of the room, Castiel turned over, sticking his thumb in his mouth and pulling the blanket closer to him. He gave a little whimper and Gabriel pulled his little brother closer to him. Sam sighed as he drifted off. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

Loud crying woke Sam and Dean up the next morning. Both hunters were on their feet with weapons in their hands before they were even fully awake. Castiel was on the bed, crying his head off while Gabriel sat there with his hands over his ears.

"He's hungry," the archangel said. Castiel just cried even harder. Dean went and picked him up and the wailing stopped almost immediately.

"It's okay, Cas," he told the little angel. "We'll go and get you some food." He set the angel on the couch and turned the T.V. on while he went to the bathroom to change. Sam helped Gabriel off the bed and sat him next to his brother. When they were all ready, they walked to a small diner down the road from the motel.

Surprisingly, the two kids were pretty well-behaved. Based off of the stuff he had read last night, Sam had been expecting tantrums and food being thrown across the room, but they just sat and ate quietly, only getting upset when the waitress asked Sam and Dean if they were the little angels' parents.

"No!" Gabriel exclaimed angrily. "They're not our parents. We love them." THe waitress looked surprised and looked at Sam and Dean for clarification.

"They're our nephews. We're watching them for our sister," Dean told her. She made an 'oh' motion with her mouth and left to get the pie Dean had ordered. After breakfast, Castiel wanted to stop at a park they had seen on the way there while Gabriel was adamant about going to a candy shop. They agreed to meet back at the park in an hour, enough time for each of them to get what they wanted.

Gabriel made Dean promise to not let Castiel out of his sight the whole time they were gone, saying something about bad creatures trying to get them. Dean blew it off as nonsense, but Sam couldn't help but wonder if it was the angel in him coming through. Regardless, he kept a sharp lookout while Gabriel ran around the candy store, grabbing anything chocolate or cherry flavored. When he was satisfied, they left. Gabriel refused to let go of Sam's hand, and though he didn't mind, if he needed to fight, it would be very difficult with a tiny angel attached to his arm.

Across the street from the park, Gabriel froze. He dropped his lollipop and stared wide-eyed at a man sitting at the park where Dean and Castiel were.

"Gabriel, what's wrong?" Sam asked.

Gabriel pointed to the man. "His face is scary. It's black and evil." Sam was confused at first, but then it hit him. Angels could see the true faces of demons. If there were demons here, that could only mean that Crowley knew what had happened and was trying to get his grubby hands on the angels while they were vulnerable.

Trying to look as nonchalant as possible, Sam towed Gabriel away from the park and towards the motel room. Once there, he told Gabriel to sit tight and pulled out his phone.

"Where are you, Sammy?" Dean asked when he picked up.

"I'm at the motel room," Sam answered. "There are demons watching you. Grab Cas and get here, we need to split." He hung up before Dean could answer and ran around the room, throwing all their stuff into their bags. He loaded it all up into the Impala and told Gabriel to stay in the car while he checked out. The archangel promised to sit still and Sam left quickly, fighting all of his instincts to not run to the motel office.

"Hello," the man behind the counter greeted him. "Checking out?"

"Yeah," Sam answered, fidgeting nervously. He paid and handed over the key, trying not to yell at the man for taking so long.

"So, where are that other man and those two children I saw you with earlier?" the man asked. Something about his tone made Sam look up. The man's eyes turned black, and he smiled evilly at Sam. Somehow managing to not stab the demon, he turned and ran back to the car, a bad feeling in his stomach. Gabriel wasn't at the car when Sam got there, but his candy bag was. Gabriel wouldn't just leave it, not unless he was…

"Sam!" Sam heard the angel call his name and ran towards the sound. Behind their motel room Sam saw Gabriel being dragged towards a car by a demon. Tears were streaming down his face, but he was fighting her ferociously. Without hesitation, Sam threw the demon-killing knife as hard as he could. It embedded itself in her head, allowing Gabriel to break free and sprint to Sam. The car drove off and Sam was extremely relieved not to have seen Dean or Castiel in it.

Sam grabbed Gabriel and ran back to the Impala, throwing the angel in and starting the motor. He called Dean's cell again while nervously tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Come on, Dean, pick up," he muttered.

"Sam," Dean finally answered.

"Oh, thank God," Sam sighed. "Listen, Gabriel was almost taken by demons. Where are you, we have to go, now." Dean pulled open the passenger door, startling Sam. He pulled out of the parking lot and didn't relax until they were on the highway, a good hour away from the small town they were in. Castiel was sitting in the back seat, hugging his brother, who was still hiccupping. After another hour, Dean and Sam switched, with Dean driving and Sam sitting in the back with the angels. Cas was asleep, lying on the seat and Gabriel sat on Sam's lap with his face buried in his jacket.

"Shh, it's okay now, I won't let them get you," Sam murmured, trying to comfort the angel.

"They were gonna take me to Crowley," he said, gasping between each word. "I read their minds and...it was bad."

"I know, it's okay. I'll never let them get you, I promise." He eventually cried himself to sleep and Dean pulled over so that Sam could buckle him in and move to the front.

"Dude, this sucks," Dean said. "They might not even know that they're angels, and now Crowley's after them."

"I know," Sam sighed. "I hope this spell wears off soon. They're pretty well-behaved kids, but I don't want to know what happens to an unstable baby angel when they don't get their way." Dean just grunted in agreement. They drove the whole day, finally stopping in a tiny town that wasn't on any map because the population was only four hundred. While Sam checked into a room, Dean went out to do God knows what, leaving Sam with two hungry, and now dirty, angels to take care of.

He managed to distract them with a movie, but he didn't want to risk going out with both of them alone, so he was forced to wait an hour until Dean came home.

"Where have you been?" he demanded angrily when his brother walked through the door. Cas ran over and wrapped his tiny arms and legs around Dean's leg, laughing when Dean started to walk and took the angel with him.

"I was shopping," he replied, lifting a few shopping bags that Sam hadn't noticed. Gabriel perked up at this and came over to see what Dean had got. "It turns out that this tiny town has a Babies'R'Us, so I went and got some stuff for the God Squad Jr."

From the bags he pulled out a booster seat and a car seat, some snacks by some brand called Gerber, and a few new shirts and pants for Gabriel and Castiel. Dean left to install the car seats in the Impala, leaving Sam to make a meal of fruit snacks and cookies. He didn't know how long the spell would last, but he knew that while the angels were human, they would need more that sugar to keep them healthy, so tomorrow they would have to go out and get real food.

As soon as they were done eating, Sam took them one at a time into the bathroom, where he attempted to give them baths. Gabriel spent the whole time worrying about getting soap in his eyes, jerking back whenever Sam's suds covered hand got too near his face. Castiel wouldn't sit still at all. He was playing with the bubbles, then trying to swim, then pretending to be a pirate and drown Sam. Needless to say, the younger Winchester was soaked by the time the two angels were clean and in new pajamas.

He changed into something comfortable and sat down beside Dean on the couch. Dean passed him a beer and he gladly accepted it. They both looked over at the bed the angels were sharing when Gabriel sucked in a huge shuddering breath. He stated asleep, and the hunters turned back to their movie.

"How could Crowley have known about the spell?" Sam asked suddenly. Dean just shrugged.

"Does it matter?" he asked. "I don't care how he found out as long as he doesn't get them." Sam nodded and finished his beer. It was late and they both knew that the angels were early risers, so they had a quick game of Rock Paper Scissors, which Dean won. He climbed in the bed and left Sam to somehow fold his tall frame onto the couch. They fell asleep quickly, as they had trained themselves to do, unaware of the black eyes that watched them and their angels as they slept.

 **Comment "Yes" if you want a high school AU, I'm debating on whether or no to start one**


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Sam and Dean were surprised to find Gabriel sitting on the bed next to his still sleeping brother. He had the covers pulled over his head, hiding something.

"Gabriel, what are you doing?" Sam asked. The little angel started, unaware that the hunters had woken up.

"Nothing," he replied. "Just grooming my wings." Sam's eyebrows shot up and he looked at Dean, who looked just as surprised as he felt.

"You have wings?" Dean asked carefully, not knowing how much the kids knew about their powers.

"Of course," Gabriel answered, pulling the blanket away. Sprouting from his back were six golden wings. Each one must have been at least five feet long and were reflecting the sunlight painfully into the Winchesters' eyes. "All angels have wings." That answered _that_ question.

Curious, Sam moved closer and saw that Gabriel had been straightening and fixing feathers that were ruffled or out of place. He gently straightened one and was encouraged when Gabriel smiled at him. He moved to sit next to the angel and continued to fix the feathers, marvelling at how soft they were.

Castiel woke not much longer, yawning and rubbing his big eyes with tiny fists. When he saw Sam grooming Gabriel's wings- honestly, grooming?!- he turned to Dean with a jealous look on his face. They saw a slight shimmering behind his back and two glossy, raven-colored wings appeared. They weren't as long as Gabriel's, nor as shiny, but they were still just as stunning.

"Please?" he asked Dean, uttering the first words they had heard him say since the encounter with the witch. Dean looked at Sam for help but the younger hunter just shrugged and continued to groom Gabriel. So Dean awkwardly climbed into bed behind Cas and started doing what Sam was doing, gently pulling feathers into place and smoothing them down.

They didn't know how long they stayed like that, but by the time they had finished, they were all starving. Sam and Dean pulled the tiny angels into some of the new clothes Dean had bought, then went out in search of a decent meal.

The town they were in was so tiny that they had no chain restaurants, the only places to eat being small mom-and-pop places. They stopped at one diner that looked good, and ordered breakfast. They soon found, however, that their charges had a very specific palette.

Castiel wouldn't eat anything that wasn't meat, and Gabriel refused to eat anything that wasn't filled with sugar. So they compromised. Cas got to eat all the sausage he wanted if he ate a pancake and some fruit, and as long as Gabriel ate actual food, they would keep refilling his Coke and get him some cake afterwards.

Sam and Dean took them back to the motel, trying to come up with a plan. While the angels were this helpless, there was no way that they could solve any cases, but at the same time they couldn't just sit around and wait for Crowley to find them.

Right now, though, it seems like that was all they could do. The two hunters sat down heavily on one of the beds and watched their angels. They were entranced by some stupid kids show on T.V. but Gabriel soon grew bored with it and changed the channel. Big mistake.

Castiel had actually liked that show, and the hunters could see a tantrum coming on when Cas' eyes filled with angry tears.

"Change it back!" he yelled at his brother. Gabriel held the remote tighter in his fist.

"No," he said. Cas tried one more time to get Gabriel to give up the remote, but Gabriel just held it out of Cas' reach, causing Castiel to scream with anger. It wasn't the voice of a three-year-old, but the voice of an angel.

Sam and Dean ducked and covered their heads as all the glass in the room exploded. Castiel started yelling at Gabriel in a language they assumed was Enochian. Gabriel was yelling back, and they could see both angels getting more and more agitated.

Gabriel shrugged off his jacket and flared up his gold wings, causing Cas to pause a little. Gabriel took that hesitation and attacked his brother, jumping on him and pinning him down. Castiel fought back, throwing Gabriel off without lifting a finger. The archangel landed on his feet and stared at his brother.

The hunters had no idea what to do. They could see the anger in both angels' eyes, but they knew that getting too close to the warring toddlers would result in their very messy deaths. SO they continued to crouch between the beds, waiting for demons to swarm the place at any moment.

Gabriel lifted his hand towards Cas and the tiny boy flew back, landing pinned against the wall. He thrashed around but he wasn't strong enough to fight off an archangel. Gabriel knew this, too, and told him something in Enochian, smirking. Cas' face turned bright red with anger and huge cracks spiraled through the walls. The small table in the room suddenly caught fire and as Cas' anger rose, so did the flames.

"Really, Cassie?" Gabriel asked, switching back to English. He pressed harder against Castiel, and the tiny angel cried out in pain. "Yield. Yield, Cas, you're defeated. You can't win." Castiel continued to fight Gabriel's power. The T.V. went black, then turned static-y. "YIELD!" Gabriel yelled the word, pushing Cas harder than ever against the wall. The angel had angry tears running down his face and he was screaming in pain.

Dean and Sam were looking on in shock. They had no idea the kind of power the baby angels had, and they never thought that the two brothers would fight like this.

Castiel finally hung his head.

"I yield," he said quietly. Immediately, he dropped to the floor. Gabriel snapped his fingers and the room went back to the way it was before. Gabriel and Castiel went back to the couch as if nothing had happened, though the smaller angel looked sulky and kept shooting glares at his older brother.

Gabriel looked back at Sam and Dean and noticed the shock and confusion on their faces.

"It's a dominance thing," he said, before turning back to the movie he was watching. The hunters looked at each other for a moment before going back to the mini fridge and getting more beer.

"We have to be extremely careful not to piss them off," Sam whispered. Dean nodded in agreement. They sat there for a while until Castiel started crying again and Gabriel declared that it was his nap time. So Dean rocked his tiny angel to sleep and tucked him into bed, while Sam and Gabriel went out in search of a vending machine in which to find some lunch.

They hadn't been gone long when Sam got a call from Dean.

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"Dude, the room is surrounded by demons. Low-level, I doubt they know about the angels, but I can't fight them off and protect Cas at the same time."

"Right, we're on our way." Sam ended the call and grabbed Gabriel's hand. He pretty much dragged him back to the room and cautiously looked out from behind a bush. Just like Dean had said, the whole place was surrounded. Dozens of demons, it looked like. Sam strained to think of anything that he could do to help his brother and angel friend, before he remembered something.

"Gabriel," he whispered. The archangel looked up at him with scared gold eyes. "Can you fly?" The angel nodded. "Okay, good. I need you to fly into the hotel room and fly Dean and Castiel back out here. Can you do that?"

Sam hated to put Gabriel in danger, but there was no other way. Gabriel nodded and was gone, the familiar sound of wings flapping sounding in Sam's ears. Not five minutes later, Gabriel reappeared with Dean, Cas, and all of their stuff. The tiny angel looked exhausted and collapsed into Sam's arms.

"What happened?" Dean whispered as they sprinted towards the Impala.

"We are too young to be doing these kinds of things," Cas said, his voice jolting as he bounced up and down in Dean's arms. "He will be fine."

They made it to the car in one piece and threw their bags into the trunk. As quick as they could, they buckled the angels into the car seats Dean had installed, then hopped in themselves and drove away from the town as fast as they could.

Once again on a long and lonely highway, the Winchesters were finally able to relax. Sam looked back at the angels and was a little worried to see Gabriel looking so pale. Castiel didn't seem bothered by it, so Sam just assumed that he needed time to recharge his batteries. They drove all day, stopping only to get food for Castiel, since Gabriel had yet to wake up.

Well after sunset, they had finally found a motel that suited their purpose. It wasn't in any town, but right off the interstate. They checked in and put Gabriel's prone form on the bed. The five-year-old wasn't as pale anymore, but Sam still worried a little. Dean went out to get some dinner and they ate quickly, not really in the mood to talk. After dinner, Dean bathed Castiel and put him to bed next to his brother.

Sam was on his laptop, looking for any word about the spell the witch had cast. It had only been a few days, but who knew? Actually, Gabriel and Castiel knew, but they probably didn't even remember.

That night, Sam had one of the weirdest dreams he had ever experienced. He was in a forest, surrounded by moose. They kept licking him and trying to make him their king. Turning away, he ran until he found a clearing. There, he found a giant chocolate bar, sitting on a glass plate. Cautiously, he approached, only to realize too late that it was a trap.

He was in a cage, looking up at a faceless captor with terror in his eyes. Suddenly, he was gone, along with the cage. He was on a sidewalk outside the park Dean had taken Castiel to when they first realized they were being hunted by demons.

"Heya, Sam," he heard, and whipped around. Standing behind him was Gabriel, fully grown and wearing his trademark smirk. He held up a hand before Sam could say anything.

"I don't have much time, so just listen. There is a spell you can use to turn us back, but it's pretty complicated. The ingredients are easy enough to find, but you have to acquire them in a specific order, otherwise it won't work. Here," he said, snapping his fingers. Sam found himself holding a piece of paper with a list of ingredients and instructions on how to complete the spell.

He looked up to ask Gabriel a question but the archangel was gone. Instead, he found himself falling...falling…

"Jesus Christ!" Sam whisper-yelled when he landed on the hard floor of the motel room. Swearing quietly, he rubbed his back and crawled back into bed. When he looked down, there was a piece of paper in his hand. His eyes widened and he opened it. It was the exact paper that Gabriel had given Sam in his dream.

He looked at the archangel. He was still asleep, clutching onto his brother. Dean was asleep on the couch, but Sam could see him stirring. Knowing that Dean would be up soon, he opened his laptop and looked up the ingredients on the list.

"What're you doing?" Dean asked twenty minutes later. Sam looked up at him over the top of his laptop.

"You'll never believe what happened last night…"


	4. Chapter 4

"Wait, let me get this straight. Gabriel appeared to you in a dream, full grown, and gave you a spell that can turn them back, but he has no idea that he did?" Dean's voice was full of skepticism, and Sam couldn't blame him. Yet, he had the paper in his hand, and if that didn't prove that it had actually happened, then Sam didn't know what would.

"Yes, Dean," Sam replied. "Now shut up before you wake the angels up." They both glanced towards the bed where the angels were sleeping. Castiel still had on his tiny trenchcoat and Gabriel was gripping it tight in his fist.

"Okay, fine," Dean said. "How many ingredients are there?"

Sam consulted the list. "Five."

"Only five?"

"Yeah, but they're not your average spell ingredients."

"What do we need?"

"The skull of a virgin, moss that's been touched by a holy man, fur from a bat, the eyeballs of a camel, and powdered cat femur."

"Cat femur? What the hell is a femur?"

"It's a bone in the leg. But forget about that, some of these will be pretty hard to find. And we have to get them in that specific order."

Dean's reply was cut off by a huge yawn from Cas. The tiny angel angrily yanked his trenchcoat away from his brother before sliding off the bed and trudging sleepily over to Dean. The hunter picked the angel up and he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked in his high little voice.

Sam showed him the list, not really surprised when the angel was able to read it. "We need to get these things," he said. "But we have no idea where to find some of them."

"That's easy," Castiel said. "Me and Gabe can help, when he wakes up." They all glanced towards the archangel. He had returned to his natural complexion, but he had yet to open his eyes.

Until he woke up, they couldn't do anything or go anywhere, so Dean dressed Castiel and went out to find breakfast. Sam, meanwhile, searched via his laptop for any leads on where to find the ingredients. The skull, the cat femur, and possible the bat fur would be relatively easy to find but he had no idea where to find holy moss or camel eyes.

Dean and Castiel returned a while later with breakfast. Sam tried unsuccessfully to wake Gabriel up. He was worried, really worried. Gabriel was an archangel, one of the most powerful beings in existence, yet just flying with Dean and Cas had drained him to the point where he had been unconscious for a solid twelve hours at least.

Castiel came and stood next to Sam by Gabriel's bed.

"Can you wake him up?" Sam asked the little angel. Cas looked thoughtfully at his brother for a moment.

"I can try, but I don't know how it will affect me, seeing as Gabriel is like this just because he flew." Cas put two fingers on Gabe's temple and scrunched up his face, tiny tongue poking out of his mouth. After three seconds of this, Gabriel stirred. Cas pulled his fingers away and sat down on the floor, panting. Dean was there immediately, holding the angel.

Sam focused on Gabriel, willing him to open his eyes. It happened slowly, as if something kept trying to drag him back under. But eventually big gold eyes settled on Sam's.

"Sam?"

"Hey, Gabe." Sam couldn't stop smiling. He was so relieved that his angel was alright. But something kept nagging him at the back of his mind, something he felt he was forgetting. Pushing it away for now, he helped Gabriel eat some breakfast and then took him into the bathroom to give him a bath. The archangel was covered in sticky fingerprints from Castiel and dirt from the grungy motel room accommodations.

"Okay Gabriel, take off your clothes and lets get you clean," Sam instructed. He helped the angel into the bathtub and scrubbed his hair with shampoo while Gabriel played with the bubbles. Something still seemed off about him. Ever since he had woken up he had seemed drowsy and lethargic. It had been an hour and it still hadn't worn off.

Ignoring the feeling, he reached for the removable showerhead and rinsed all the soap off, noticing something strange. In the center of Gabriel's back was a strange symbol. Closer inspection revealed that it was drawn in blood. Eyes wide, he washed the symbol off, noticing that Gabriel perked up considerably as soon as it was gone. Sam quickly dried and dressed the archangel and went over to where Dean was sitting with Castiel, watching a movie.

"Dean, I think we have a problem," Sam said. Dean turned around and paused the movie, waiting for Sam to continue. "I found a symbol written in blood on Gabriel's back-not his blood!" he added, seeing Dean's panicked look. "It seems like it was sapping his strength. As soon as I washed it off, he was fine. Somebody got into our motel room, probably before the demons surrounded us, and wrote a symbol in blood on Gabe's back." Now he knew what had been bothering him. Castiel had used a lot of energy to wake Gabriel up, but he was fine. Gabriel had collapsed after flying, something that didn't require a lot of energy.

"Okay, Sam calm down," Dean said. Both angels were looking at Sam with wide eyes. Sam got a notepad and drew the symbol, showing it to them.

"Do you guys know what this does?" They nodded. It was Castiel who spoke.

"It depletes an angel's power considerably. This is why flying costed Gabriel so much energy and why he didn't wake up afterwards. The archangel crawled into Sam's lap and buried his face into the hunter's jacket.

"Someone could have killed me," he said, voice tight with fear. "It was probably Crowley. He knows Enochian."

"What do you know about Crowley?" Dean asked curiously, peering out the window for anything suspicious.

"He used to be an angel, then he Fell and became human. And when he died, he became a demon and then king of Hell."

Sam and Dean were shocked. Crowley used to be an angel? It would explain some things, like how he knew Enochian and was so powerful.

"Alright, well he won't get to you again," Sam said. Over the archangel's head he gave Dean a worried look. Crowley had gotten to the angels. Who knew what else he'd do?

()()()

Dean grunted with exertion. They'd left the same day they'd found out about Gabriel and the sigil, and now he was digging up the grave of a virgin. They'd been unable to find one quick enough, so Dean had decided to just use the skull of a child. He felt a little bad, but the kid was dead and he needed the skull to help his angel.

Sam was at home with said angels, protecting them in case Crowley or anymore demons decided to pop in. After another hour of digging, Dean finally uncovered the coffin. He broke it open with the shovel, then reached in and grabbed the skull.

He didn't bother to cover the grave back up, he needed to hurry. Dean ran back to the Impala, cringing in disgust when he saw the car seats in the back. He couldn't wait until the angels were back to normal and they could burn the stupid things and dance in the ashes.

It was almost dawn when he got back to the motel room. Both angels were asleep and Sam was sitting next to the door with a shotgun, waiting for an attack that hopefully wouldn't come.

Dean walked up to the door and knocked once, then twice, then seven times. Sam opened the door and ushered him in. While the angels were still asleep they packed up their stuff and prepared to leave. They had to get out of town before the grave was found.

Gabriel and Castiel were not happy at being woken up so early and grumbled the whole way to the car. Once they were on the road they fell asleep again, waking up fully a few hours later.

"What's the next ingredient on the lis?" Dean asked. Sam fished the paper out of his pocket and checked.

"Moss touched by a holy man." The hunters exchanged looks. How the hell were they supposed to find that? Luckily, Gabriel was back to full power by now and could help them out.

"Gabriel, do you think you could find some?" Sam asked. Gabriel nodded and they pulled over so that he would know where they were when he came back. Closing his eyes for a moment, the tiny archangel searched the world for the moss they were looking for. Finally, he opened his eyes and was gone. The other three waited in silence, only broken when Castiel declared that he was hungry.

"We'll get you some food when your brother gets back," Sam promised. Gabriel appeared back in his seat not two minutes later, holding a large was of ordinary looking moss. Sam put it into the bag with the skull and they continued on their way, looking for someplace to stop for breakfast. They saw the sign for an iHop and pulled off the highway. The hunters had their pistols in their jacket pockets and Sam had the demon knife in his belt, hidden by his shirt.

They sat down at their table and ordered, eager to get moving and get the rest of the ingredients.

"Stop it, Castiel!" Gabriel shouted, drawing the attention of almost the whole restaurant.

"I'm not doing anything!"

"Scoot over, you're in my space!"

"You have more space than me!"

"Cas move over!"

Sam and Dean recognized the signs of another angel fight like the one at the motel and intervened. Dean leaned over and whisper-yelled across the table to the angels.

"If you two don't stop fighting I'm taking you home right now and you'll only get broccoli for breakfast. Do I make myself clear? Good. Now Castiel, scoot over and Gabriel get back onto your side of the booth."

The angels skulked, but did as Dean asked, pouting and refusing to look at eachother.

"Dude, baby angels fight over the stupidest stuff," Sam whispered.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we can't punish them," Dean hissed back. "They're brothers, they're not supposed to be fighting like this. Especially not in public where demons could be anywhere."

Sam nodded. both hunters were extremely glad when their meal arrived. They ate, paid, and left quickly, wanting to get back on the road. The next ingredient they needed was bat fur. This was easiest of all. They simply broke into a zoo, stole one of the bats, and shaved it. They placed the fur into a plastic bag and released the bat outside the motel.

The next ingredient would be tougher. Camel eyes. Castiel volunteered for this one, flying to Egypt and returning with two huge eyeballs in his hands. Gagging slightly, Sam transferred them into another plastic bag and put them with the other stuff.

There was just one more thing left to get, the cat bone. It was harder than they had thought it would be to find a pet cemetery, but super easy to dig up the shallow grave. Sam googled a picture of a cat femur and found the right bone.

He hurried back to the motel room and used the knock code they had created. Dean didn't answer. Sam tried again, and when no one came to the door, he took drastic measures. Holding the bone carefully in his hand, he kicked the door open and went inside.

The room was a mess. Furniture was destroyed, the walls had huge holes in them and all the windows were smashed. Dean was lying on the floor, a huge cut on his head. Rushing over, Sam took his pulse and sighed with relief when he felt a pulse.

"Dean! Dean, wake up!" The older Winchester jerked awake, groaning and clutching his head.

"What happened?" he asked. Sam looked around and it wasn't hard for him to figure out exactly what had happened.

"Demons were here," he said, pointing at a small bit of sulfur by the door. "And the angels are gone."


	5. Chapter 5

Dean shot up off the floor, wincing slightly as he did. Sam handed him a towel and grabbed their bags. As quickly as he could with shaking fingers, he prepared the things they would need for a summoning spell. Neither brother spoke, too worried about their angels to think of anything to say.

Dean dropped the match into the bowl, stepping back as the flames reared up. When they died down, Crowley was standing in a demon trap they had put on the floor, looking incredibly miffed.

"Oh, not you two idiots!" he cried in exasperation. "I was just about to begin my interrogation." Sam shuddered at this, thinking of the two toddlers strapped to metal tables, cuts and bruises and blood covering them. Shaking the image away, he crossed his arms and glared at the demon king.

"Where did you take them?" he asked angrily. Crowley feigned innocence, pretending to think.

"I don't know anyone named 'Them', you'll have to be more specific." Dean dumped an entire gallon of holy water over his head, making him hiss in pain.

"Where did you take the angels?" Sam asked again. "Gabriel and Castiel."

"Oh, _them,_ " Crowley said. "Yeah, I have them. You probably won't be able to find them, though. Not unless you can somehow fly overseas at the speed of light."

"Bring them back," Dean demanded. "Now."

"Or what?"

Sam reached behind him and pulled out another gallon of water. As he unscrewed the lid, Dean walked into the trap and forced the demon king's mouth open. Sam took his time, slowly pouring the salt water down his throat. He coughed and spluttered, and eventually blood began to pour from his mouth.

"Or we leave you here, in this trap," Sam said. "And we come every few days to give you a drink of water."

Crowley laughed. "No you won't. I'm your only chance at finding the angelic brats."

Sam frowned. "Actually…" Dean watched in confusion as his brother went and got the bag with the spell ingredients in it. He pulled out the paper and began to prepare the spell. Dean caught on quickly and moved to help, leaving the demon to watch them in confusion. Maybe, if they returned the angels to their full size, they could escape wherever Crowley was holding them.

They worked quickly, grinding the femur and adding the fur, eyeballs, and moss. They put the mixture into the skull and faced it southwest. They added two hairs, one from each of the angels. Then, they spoke the incantation.

" _Eia nunc, et cuius maturitas aetas furtum reddere. Memoriam hanc poenam patitur manere, ut auferam ex ea quae possunt,"_ they spoke in unison. They hoped that the spell would work even though the angels weren't there. For a few tense moments they waited, Sam and Dean with anxiety and Crowley with boredom.

After what seems like forever, but could only have been a few minutes, they heard the sound of wings flapping. Standing there, looking dirty and bruised but very much grown up, were Castiel and Gabriel, both smiling widely at their hunters. The Winchesters, ignoring Crowley, threw themselves into the arms of their angels, kissing and hugging and laughing in joy.

"Sorry to ruin this touching moment," Crowley's voice cut through their excitement and the four of them turned to glare at the demon. "But I have places to be, so if you'd be so kind as to let me out." No one moved and the demon king rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it myself." He twisted his hand and one of the pipes in the ceiling broke, washing away the hastily painted devil's trap.

Crowley was gone, but nobody cared. They were all too happy to take notice of the mess in the room, or that all of their stuff was being soaked as more and more water poured into the room.

"Are you alright, Cas?" Dean asked, running his hands over Castiel to check for injury.

"I am fine, Dean," the angel replied. Dean opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when Castiel pressed their mouths firmly together, effectively cutting off any reply the hunter had come up with.

Next to them, Sam and Gabriel were just pulling away from a kiss just as desperate.

"What do you remember?" Sam asked a little breathlessly.

"Everything," Gabriel said, grinning wickedly. "You give excellent baths, dear Samsquatch."

Sam blushed bright red, causing Gabriel to laugh. After a while they noticed the water, and the room was put right with a snap of the archangel's fingers. The four of them squeezed onto one of the beds, just glad to be back to normal.

"Hey Gabe?" Sam asked.

"Yeah?"

"What was up with that fight with you and Cas?"

Gabriel blushed light pink, and even Castiel flushed a little.

"Um, about that. We have a little confession to make."

"Spit it out, Gabe. What did you do?"

"I may or may not have lied about the spell resetting our brains."

"What?!"

"Yeah, we were just tiny, there was nothing wrong with our minds. To be fair though, all the credit goes to Castiel, it was all his idea."

"Why, Cas? Dude, we have no idea how to take care of kids, we could have killed you!" Dean was a little upset, but one puppy dog look from Castiel and that anger melted away.

"I thought it would be interesting for Gabriel and I to pretend to be children. It was pretty fun." Him and Gabriel exchanged small smirks and the hunters didn't like them one bit.

"What are you guys smirking at?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing. It was just interesting to know that when forced to bathe small people your first instinct is to add bubble bath." Gabriel doubled over with laughter at Sam's expression, and even Cas grinned widely.

"I believe this is what Dean would call "blackmail material'."

"Shut up, Cas."

"No, but seriously," Sam said. "If you were acting the whole time, why did you guys fight so viciously?"

"We may have gone a little overboard with that one," Gabriel admitted, shrugging.

"Yeah, no kidding. You guys nearly destroyed the motel room!"

The four of them talked for a while longer, sometimes exasperatedly as they recalled something the angels did as kids, until the two hunters were struggling to stay awake. Sam and Dean fell asleep safe in the arms of their angels, no longer children. No nightmares would plague them that night, nor any other night to come.

 **Thanks for all the positive feedback, you guys are amazing! I'm gonna take a little break from Supernatural fics for a while. I'll probably do a few Johnlock fics or something, but when I do get back to Sabriel and Destiel, it'll be that high school AU I promised you guys. Thanks for being so patient, and your review really mean a lot to me! Peace out, my Lovelies!**


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